Stobaeus, Volume II

Name: Stobaeus, Volume II
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

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Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 7 · II.7.25.7–II.7.25.8

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English Page · Branch 261 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.25.7–II.7.25.8

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Ancient Greek

p. 518

Σεμνότης αἰδὼς καὶ εὐτραπελία

II.7.25.7

σεμνότητα δὲ μεσότητα αὐθαδείας καὶ ἀρεσκείας· αἰδὼ δὲ μεσότητα ἀναισχυντίας καὶ καταπλήξεως· εὐτραπελίαν δὲ ⟨μεσότητα⟩ βωμολοχίας καὶ ἀγροικίας·

Φιλία ἀλήθεια καὶ δικαιοσύνη

II.7.25.8

φιλίαν δὲ μεσότητα κολακείας καὶ ἔχθρας· ἀλήθειαν δὲ μεσότητα εἰρωνείας καὶ ἀλαζονείας· δικαιοσύνην δὲ μεσότητα ὑπεροχῆς καὶ ἐλλείψεως καὶ πολλοῦ καὶ ὀλίγου.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 519

Dignity Modesty and Wit

II.7.25.7

Dignity is a mean between self-will and obsequiousness;⁷⁰⁹ modesty, a mean between shamelessness and being overawed;⁷¹⁰ wit, ⟨a mean⟩ between buffoonery and boorishness.⁷¹¹

Friendship Truthfulness and Justice

II.7.25.8

Friendship is a mean between flattery and enmity; truthfulness, a mean between self-depreciation and boastfulness;⁷¹² justice, a mean between excess and deficiency, and much and little.⁷¹³

709.Σεμνότης is dignity in social conduct. Αὐθάδεια is stubborn self-will or self-assertion, while ἀρέσκεια is an excessive eagerness to please, rendered obsequiousness. These are opposing ways of dealing with others, not two synonyms for the same pride.

710.Αἰδώς is modesty or a sense of shame. Κατάπληξις is being overawed, an inhibiting extreme opposite shamelessness in this classification. The source does not replace it with the ordinary fear that courage regulates.

711.The word ⟨μεσότητα⟩ is supplied and remains bracketed as a mean. Εὐτραπελία concerns wit or ready humor; βωμολοχία buffoonery, and ἀγροικία boorishness. The opposition concerns manner in social amusement rather than identifying every joke with a vice.

712.Φιλία retains friendship, the word used in section 22; in this classification it also concerns friendliness in association. Κολακεία is flattery and ἔχθρα enmity. Εἰρωνεία is self-depreciation or the understating of one’s qualities, opposed to boastfulness, ἀλαζονεία. Truthfulness concerns an accurate presentation rather than a mean between truth and falsehood.

713.The Greek retains both pairs, ὑπεροχή and ἔλλειψις, excess and deficiency, followed by πολύ and ὀλίγον, much and little. No pair is omitted as redundant. Compare the earlier explanation of proportionate equality in II.7.20.16. The source’s classification of justice as a mean is preserved.

About This Reading Edition

The complete surviving text of Stobaeus’s second book, through II.46.22, in Ancient Greek and English, with an introduction and 1,541 explanatory notes. All forty-six chapter headings remain, including the notices for chapters whose texts are missing.

Historical Text and Translation

Greek: Curt Wachsmuth, Ioannis Stobaei Anthologii libri duo priores, volumen II (Berlin: Weidmann, 1884), printed p. 1 and pp. 3–264. The supplied edition preserves consequential editorial signs, reconstructed joins, qualified attributions, and missing-text notices. English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes: Diotimos Editions, 2026.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 edition are in the public domain. The supplied English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are published with the site owner’s authorization.